<>¥Benny¥<>

I wake up and suddenly feel excited. It's the last day of school. And then it's a summer filled with baseball. I quickly get dressed then grab my backpack.

"Benny!" My mom shouts before I could run outside.

"Yea?"

She walks up to me and grabs my shoulders.

"You know the boy who moved in next door?" She asks.

I nod.

"I want you to become his friend. He seems to not have any friends. Now have a good last day of school."

I nod.

"I was gonna say hi today anyways."

She smiles as I run outside. I see the crew on their way towards my house so I wait for them.

"Hey Benny," they all say.

"Hey."

We all walk to school and stop at the courtyard.

"Well, see you guys," I say.

"Bye."

They all run off in their own directions and I start walking towards the school building until I'm stopped by someone. Someone, I wish would get out of my mind.

"Hey Benny!"

I turn around to see Jocelyn jogging up to me.

"Hey Jocelyn," I say.

She stops in front of me and sighs.

"Alright. So I have something to tell you," she says.

"What is it?"

"So, that Phillips guy came up to me yesterday and said that he was better than you at baseball. So then I may or may have not booked a game against his team and your team at your field. Don't be mad!"

I shrug.

"Okay?"

She tilts her head.

"You aren't mad?"

"No. I hate Phillips. I'm always happy to get the chance to kick his ass."

She giggles.

"Well, I'm looking forward to it. He makes me uncomfortable. But, you're different. You know you're easy to talk to, right?" She says.

I smile.

"I'm taking it as a compliment."

She smiles too.

"Good. So meet me after school and we can go to your field. I can tell him to go to your field later."

I nod.

"Sounds good."

She nods and runs off to find her friends. I smile to myself and imagine myself patting my back.

I don't mean to be cocky, but I can't wait to kick Phillips' ass in front of Jocelyn.

<><><>

I tend to think about the future a lot. And I may keep bringing this up, but it's carved into my brain. I just want to play baseball. I want to beat Phillips.

But there's something other than baseball that I want.

I want someone.

The person I least expected to be this nice to me.

That someone is, you guessed it, Jocelyn Mertle.

It hurt my head a lot when I thought to much. But my brain kept thinking of her. And it wouldn't stop.

School was finally over at this point, and I was happy. I waited for the boys after school in the courtyard until they finally showed up.

"Good. Hurry and get your baseball stuff then go to the sandlot," I say.

They all look at each other.

"Why?" Ham asks.

I smirk.

"We have a game with Phillips at our field."

They hurried to the neighborhood while I waited around for Jocelyn. She finally walked out of the building and spotted me. She jogged up to me and smiled.

"I can go there right away if you want. I already told Phillips," she says.

I nod.

"Okay. I'll have to stop by my house first though," I say.

She nods and we run towards our neighborhood.

<><><>

<>¥Jocelyn¥<>

I waited outside of Benny's house for him. He outside shortly after in his flannel and jeans, holding his baseball equipment.

"Lets go," he says.

I nod and follow him down the street. A kid across the street looks at us and Benny waves. I decide to wave too and the kid waves back. Benny stops and turns to look at me.

"I'm gonna invite him to play with us," he says.

I nod.

"Okay. Is he a new kid?"

He nods. I follow him down the street until we're in front of the kid who was sitting on his front porch.

"Hey," Benny says.

The kid looks up and nods a little.

"Uh, hi," he says.

"We're going over to our field and need an extra guy. Wanna come?" Benny asks.

In his hands, the kid is holding a busted glove.

"Oh yea but," the kid pauses.

"But what? Don't you like baseball?" Benny asks.

He thinks for a minute before looking down at his glove.

"Well yea. But my glove. It's busted. See, now I can't go. Thanks though."

Benny shrugs.

"It's cool," he reaches behind him and pulls out a glove. He throws it to the kid who catches it out of shock. "Use my old glove."

He stands up and throws his busted glove in his house.

"Mom! I'm gonna go play some ball! See you in a little while!" He shouts.

"Let's go," Benny says.

We all turn around and run to Benny's field.

<><><>

"Come on, Benny! The kid's a square!" Squints shouts.

Yea I learned who all of them are.

Smalls is the new kid and also who Squints is talking about.

"Yea, Benny man. He can't catch or throw!" Kenny exclaims.

"Man, base up you blockheads!" Benny shouts before walking off to Smalls.

While Benny is talking to Smalls, Ham smiles at me.

"So, I'm single. How about after the game we go grab some dinner?" He says.

I roll my eyes.

"How about no?" I ask.

He shakes his head and runs to home plate. Everyone laughs at him as I wait for Benny.

"Here?" Smalls asks.

Benny turns around and shakes his head.

"That's left, I said left center," he says.

"Oh right!" Smalls says, running to the left more.

"Here?"

Benny nods and we jog to home.

"You can sit in the third base dugout. Or you can stand in front of it," Benny instructs.

I nod and run over to the dugout. I decide to stand in front of it and turn to watch them.

"Yeah Yeah take two!" Benny says.

As they are doing a play, I look over the field and freeze. This is the field. My house, my dog, my dad. They are all just behind the big green fence. And these are the people who keep hitting baseballs into my backyard.

Should I tell them I live right there?

Should I?

Nah.

"Smalls!" Benny yells.

Smalls nods and Benny hits the ball up in the air. He stutter steps backwards and falls, the ball hits the ground and goes behind him.

"Ugh, see Benny, we told you!" Ham exclaims.

Smalls gets up and grabs the ball.

"Throw it in!" Squints shouts.

Smalls sighs and starts running towards Kenny.

"The hell is he doing?" Ham asks.

He reaches Kenny and puts the ball in his glove.

"Here. Sorry, sorry."

He runs back to outfield while Benny and I exchange glances. We both run to him until we're in front of him.

"You can throw it you know," Benny says.

He takes his hat off and sighs.

"No. I-I can't," he says. Benny looks over at me. "I don't know how. Thank you both for taking me here. But I think I should go home."

Benny laughs.

"You think to much. I bet you get straight A's and shit, huh?" He says.

"No, I got a B once. Actually an A minus, but it should've been a B."

I giggle to myself.

"For me I would say, I got an F plus once. Actually an F minus but it should've been an F plus."

"Man, this is baseball. You gotta stop thinking. Just have fun! I mean, if you were having fun you would've caught that ball," Benny says. He pauses for a moment. "You ever have a paper route?"

Smalls looks up.

"I helped a guy once."

"Okay, well chuck it like you throw a paper. When your arm gets here," he puts his arm above his ear. "Just let go. Just let go, it's that easy."

Benny and I start to jog off until Smalls stops us.

"H-how do you catch it?"

Benny looks down then puts his left hand in the air.

"Just stand out there and stick your glove out in the air. I'll take care of it."

We run back to the infield while everyone keeps talking.

"About time Benny, my clothes are going out of style!" Squints shouts.

"They already are, Squints," Timmy says.

"Shut up."

I watch Benny from the third base dugout as he spits on the baseball and rubs his thumb against it.

"Smalls!"

He nods and sticks his glove in the air, closing his eyes while muttering something to himself. Benny hits the ball in the air and we all wait for what happens next.

"Not again, Benny!" Yeah Yeah shouts.

The ball lands in Smalls' glove, and he squeezes it.

"Yeah!" Benny and I cheer at the same time.

Smalls looks in his glove and smiles.

"Told you all! I told you!" Benny exclaims.

Smalls throws it to Bertram, who stared at his glove in shock.

"Okay! Let's play some ball!" He shouts, throwing it to Kenny.

"I knew it. All the time."

Smalls gives Benny and I a thumbs up and we both proudly give him one back.

"Alright! An hour till Phillips and his team get here!" I shout.

They all cheer as they start practicing again.

I'm changing the movie just a little bit ;)